classical conversations

I read a beautiful blog post last week from Sara at Classically Homeschooling that really got me thinking. Sara is a classical educator (as is my family) and was writing about homeschooling ‘non academic’ kids with the classical method. The classical model is known for being rigorous. Twelve year olds are studying Latin, learning to write persuasive essays, and (in our Classical Conversations group) drawing the entire world by heart by the end of the year. For the less academic scholar (and their parents), this can be intimidating.

What does it mean to be ‘non-academic’? I don’t think anyone is really non-academic. My kids do academic things everyday. I prefer the term ‘less-academic’ for the purposes of this post.

From my perspective, as the mother of 7 kids with learning challenges like dyslexia, dysgraphia, and ADHD, this means that traditional academic pursuits that require extensive reading and writing are more difficult and require more work than their more academic peers.

Not just this, but their strongest gifts and talents may lie elsewhere – perhaps in the arts, business, or sports.

Sara’s blog post really got me thinking. What does all of this mean for our kids’ education? Should we expect less of them? Should we avoid more difficult subjects? What do we do when they are unable to keep up and master every subject – whether or not they study using the classical method.

Homeschooling the Less Academic Child

Does a child need to be ‘academic’ to succeed in school? If not, what does that look like?

Things move more slowly. One of the hallmark signs of child with a learning disability is the discrepancy between their IQ and their academic performance. They have the intellectual ability but processing, memory, and attention weaknesses make learning more time consuming. The most affective accommodation for students with learning disabilities is more time. Our kids can master any subject – in time.

They don’t need to get an ‘A’ in every subject. I attended a lecture at the International Dyslexia Association conference a few years ago where a young dyslexic woman shared how she managed her learning struggles in college. I loved her candor about choosing the courses that were the most important to her, and focusing on getting ‘A’s in those classes. My dyslexic kids can be near the head of their class in some subjects and near the bottom in others – and that is okay.

An atmosphere of possibilities in your home. This time of year finds many families reassessing their homeschooling options. Some are heading off to private or charter schools. Many are changing curriculum. How are you handling the challenges in your homeschool? One thing homeschooling kids with dyslexia for 20 years has taught me is that they. can. learn. anything. They may not learn it in the same time frame or with the same methods as other kids, but they can. In our home, we face obstacles in learning with the attitude of working together to find a solution or strategy. This is where teaching kids about the power of a growth mindset is invaluable. I teach our kids to say, “I can’t do this – yet.” and not to be defined by the struggle, rather by the overcoming of the struggle.

Focus on learning how to learn. This is perhaps the main benefit of homeschooling kids who learn differently. One kid needs quiet to study, another needs music playing in the background in order to focus. One kid needs to hear information to make it stick and another needs to see it or touch it. Teaching our kids how they learn and giving them the tools and time to practice is giving them a skill that will help them be lifetime learners. Are they learning how to think, to communicate, to be an active part of their education? If they are, then whether they memorize all of their vocabulary words or master their times tables doesn’t matter.

Focus on character. Educating our kids at home involves more than academics. Character traits like perseverance, kindness, and selflessness are becoming less and less common in our youth. Kids who struggle have more of an opportunity to grow in character traits like patience, perseverance, and humility than other kids and that doesn’t need to be a bad thing.

While there are many areas of our kids’ education that can feel out of our control (will they ever master their times tables?), these five areas are things we can control. We can control our pace, our expectations, our attitudes that affect the atmosphere of our homes. We can control what we teach and how we teach so that our kids grow into their God-given gifts and talents.

Keeping Up

What do we do when our kids can’t keep up with their classmates? In non-classroom situations, I teach them at their pace. If they’re reading at a 1st grade level in 4th grade, I teach at that level until they master the content.

What if they’re in a classroom situation? Our Classical Conversations leaders encourage scaling back if necessary. If a child is struggling to keep up, the parent is free to scale back the requirements. They are still working for the same amount of time but perhaps declining every other sentence in Latin or answering questions about literature orally instead of writing them down.

Curriculum is a tool for teaching, not a master to be obeyed.

What about grades?

As our children’s teachers, we have the freedom to assign and expect what we know our kids can do. I created an editable grading rubric that I use to set up customized expectations for my unique kids. It’s easy to set up and simplifies assigning a grade based on the individualized goals that we have for our kids/students.

As Sarah beautifully writes in her post (you can read that post here), the goal of education is “to encourage kids to learn, to shape their body, minds, and souls. And to help children see the beauty of the world.”

How about you? Does a child need to be ‘academic’ to be a success in school?

Can a 7th grader with dyslexia, dysgraphia, and ADHD succeed in Classical Conversations Challenge A program?

We are wrapping up our first semester of Challenge A. The rumors are true. The Classical Conversations Challenge program is, well, challenging. However, it is the highest quality education I have seen in my 20+ years of homeschooling and well worth the investment of time and effort.

Challenge A is rigorous for all students whether dyslexic or not. Our daughter did complete two years of Foundations and Essentials. After much counsel, we held her back from starting Challenge until her 8th-grade year so that she could have one more year of Foundations and Essentials. Many families go this route and I do not regret for a minute making that choice.

Our Classical Conversations ‘Challenge A’ Experience by the Course

Rhetoric

In Class: Rhetoric for the first semester of Challenge A consists of weekly reading assignments in It Couldn’t Just Happen as well as memorizing three new ‘catechism’ questions each week. Catechism questions are key points taken from each week’s reading.

At Home: Because of the volume of material to be memorized each week, we opted right away to use the Quizlet app to review the catechism questions. While handwriting has been linked to better learning and memory, that is not always the case for students with dysgraphia. We began by reading It Couldn’t Just Happen (ICJH) out loud with her 6th-grade sister who will be in Challenge A next year. We have had a ton of great conversations. After a few weeks, my daughter took charge of the reading that is broken down into very manageable daily assignments.

The study method that CC teaches the kids to use is an excellent lifelong tool for learning non-fiction from a text. Weekly assignments are broken up into smaller daily assignments in seminar each week.

Day 1: Scan the assigned chapter’s title, charts and graphs, section titles, images, and captions and write a sentence or two on what you think the chapter will be about.

Day 2: Read the chapter like it is a novel, ignoring pictures and graphs, etc. Make a list of vocabulary words not known, and highlight in blue things you found interesting.

Day 3: Using the Rhetoric Study Guide from the CC Challenge A Guide write down each section title and write in one sentence the main point of that section.

Day 4: Read through assigned chapter again and review questions at the end of the chapter with parents.

The content of Rhetoric is highly engaging and our dyslexic daughter had no issues with the content or assignments. Consistent review of the catechism questions will be important for mastery.

Science

In Class: Science in the first semester of Challenge A consists of weekly research assignments on an assigned topic from the field of Natural Science. Students research the topic using simple books with the key being similar to the ‘summarizing a text’ lessons in the Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) program. Kids in grades 4- 6 who participate in the Classical Conversations Essentials program will have three years of IEW instruction. Students illustrate their papers and include the paper and drawing in a Science Journal. During the weekly Challenge A seminar, students present their paper and drawing to the class.

At Home: At first, our daughter’s papers were fairly short. The goal of Science in Challenge A is to improve research skills. Our dyslexic daughter already enjoys researching and she also loves to write (although she types and spelling isn’t 100%) and so was not too much of an issue. Two years of IEW was a big help. Prepping to present her paper was not an issue either since she has had 2 years (the program is 3 years long but we started late) of weekly presentations in the Classical Conversations Foundations program.

Geography

In Class: Geography in the Challenge A program involves learning to draw the world by memory and labeling territories, countries, states, capitals, major waterways and land masses over the course of the year. Students also learn 5-6 geography terms each week.

At Home:Sheppard Software World Geography Games was a life saver for my daughter. She was able to learn all of the territories and capitals of Canada during the first week and easily drew the maps each week. Learning the entire United States in 2 weeks brought her to tears so I recommend having your kids really work on learning this some before entering Challenge A. All of the kids had trouble with this and all of the parents allowed some scaling back. At the end of the first semester, students are to draw the entire western hemisphere from memory to the best of their ability. We scaled back on how many physical features she was required to learn, focusing on countries, territories, states, and capitals and major bodies of water and landforms. Even with this scaling, she has a vast knowledge of world geography.

Composition With the Lost Tools of Writing

Composition in the Challenge A program consists of learning to use the tools of the Five Common Topics in developing a persuasive essay.

I was very pleased with the writing program used in Challenge A – the Lost Tools of Writing (LTW) from the Circe Institute.

The program systematically introduces each of the 5 Common Topics (Definition, Comparison, Circumstance, Relationship, and Testimony) kids write rudimentary persuasive essays; one paper every three weeks based on the current literature assignment.

The teacher’s manual gives a good overview and summary of each essay and the online video instruction is a must watch, extremely helpful tool.

A key takeaway for LTW is that students in Challenge A are being introduced to the tools of writing. Like an inexperienced carpenter’s apprentice, students are taught what the tools are and how to use them but not expected to make anything highly skilled. Remember that LTW will be repeated the following two years in Challenge B and Challenge A. I understand this year to be one of exposure, not mastery.

I read somewhere that a better name for the Lost Tools of Writing would be the Lost Tools of Thinking. I can see that my daughter is learning to think more deeply about her proofs and I love being able to walk with her through this process.

Math

Math in Challenge A consists of an hour of math discussion and mental math activities based off weekly lessons (completed at home) in Saxon 8/7.

After much counsel with other Challenge A parents and our daughter’s Challenge A tutor, we decided to stick with Teaching Textbooks for Math.

The reasons for this are:

she was doing really well with Teaching Textbooks

she can do it independently

I didn’t want to have to learn a new math program as well as all the other new programs in Challenge A

So, how did it go? Just fine. She didn’t always know all of the math that was being discussed but it didn’t stop her from enjoying and learning from the conversations.

Latin

Latin in Challenge A uses the Henle First Year Latin text.

If you’re like me, Latin was a big unknown and was approached with more than a little trepidation. There are three other dyslexic students in our Challenge A class. One is only learning the vocabulary in Latin and I have always held that option in the back of my mind for our daughter. So far, I haven’t felt the need to play that card.

Much like the Classical Conversation’s Essentials program, Latin in Challenge A feels a lot like being thrown in at the deep end of the pool without a ‘floaty’. There is a LOT to learn and although they are working through the text slowly, keeping up with Latin has been a challenge. Now in our third year of CC Essentials, (an in-depth grammar and writing course for kids in 4-6th grades), I understand the 3-year cycle. Year 1 was a blur and we were able to master a small portion of the material. Year 2, we picked up more, and now, in Year 3, we are finally mastering the content. I believe that that will be the case with Henle Latin and so we press on.

Our creative, experienced tutor has done a fabulous job teaching Latin and one of the parents, who has had several kids go through Henle Latin, hosts a Latin study group each week for two hours where the kids go through their exercises together.

So while initially, I tried to keep up with the Latin, after about 6 weeks, I had to let go. Our dyslexic daughter is a whiz with the vocabulary and enjoys the challenge of learning new words. The grammar has been more difficult. I should mention that our daughter is a super easy-going kid and doesn’t sweat not knowing everything (unlike her poor mother).

I am reassured after speaking to several moms of Challenge A kids with dyslexia, that her knowledge of Latin will come together. Dyslexic learners like to understand the big picture first and then add details. I prefer to understand all the little pieces and fit them into one big whole. I am trying to let go of how I think Latin study should look and am in close communication with our daughter’s Challenge A tutor on her progress.

Latin is definitely a difficult class and a lot of work. Remember each subject should take only an hour per day. After that, parents should scale the work to meet the needs of their child.

Key Takeaways for Challenge Program and Dyslexia:

There is a huge learning curve during the first 4 weeks. You will likely feel like you can’t keep up and that you will never get organized. Not true. You will.

Find a designated workspace as soon as possible

Try making a checklist for each day’s work. We used a dry erase board but you could use a student planner or spiral notebook.

Know that developing a daily routine will take some time because there is just so much to organize.

Spending only 1 hour per day, per strand. This is a CC guideline. If you find that you are taking longer, look for ways to scale back. There are lots of scaling tips in the CHA guide.

Use these struggles to teach problem-solving and time management skills. Talk through each difficulty and brainstorm ways to manage them.

If you have weekday activities, plan on spending some time in the evenings and weekends to finish Challenge A assignments.

Look for accommodations to help with areas that are taking a lot of time.

Look on CC Connected – Challenge Level for ‘cheat sheets’ and other reference tools to make your student’s workload lighter.

Consider using the Quizlet app for Catechism and Latin vocabulary and grammar review.

Listen to literature assignments on audio books. Listen to all books during the Summer to lighten the load once class starts in the Fall.

Working alongside your student will help you to see the areas in which he or she might be struggling. Do this until you get systems in place that help with this.

Talk about how it’s going regularly. Find out what is working and what isn’t and brainstorm together ways to help.

Encourage grit. If your child learns nothing but that value and discipline of hard work, your year will be a success. Of course, they will learn much more than that!

Communication

Because I have younger kids in the Foundations and Essentials program, I am unable to sit in class with my Challenge A daughter. I do check in with her tutor at the end of every class to see how she is doing and to be certain that she is participating in class and keeping up. I love that her tutor knows her character so well and encourages diligence, friendship, and flexibility.

Unlike the Classical Conversations Foundations and Essentials program, the CC Challenge tier is a drop-off program. I strongly recommend, however, staying highly involved with your child’s learning. This includes checking all assignments each week for completeness, quizzing kids on their memory work, and keeping in regular communication with your child and their tutor.

Seeing the Big Picture

I am looking at this year as an enormous catalyst for character and habit growth. If she learns half of what she is studying, and learns to be diligent with her studies and enhances her ability to think, I will be a very happy mama.

The biggest complaint that I hear from parents of dyslexics about the Classical Conversations program is that their kids are not performing as well as other students. For example, their child is not as quick to recall facts, not as detailed in their maps, or not as quick to understand and remember Latin grammar rules. This very well may be true.

In my experience teaching kids with dyslexia over the past 20 years, I have to say “Stop comparing your kids to other kids!” Your child is uniquely gifted and those gifts are different from other kids. The freedom for our children to be who they were created to be is a HUGE part of homeschooling in the first place. Even more importantly, is teaching our kids to understand themselves and appreciate their differences.

That was an epic post! Please leave your comments or questions below. Let’s start a conversation!

If you’re like me and thought that the Classical Conversations homeschool co-op was just too rigorous for your child with dyslexia, think again.

Our family has two years of the elementary program, Foundations and Essentials, under our belts and are still loving it. To learn more about the Classical Conversations Foundations and Essentials program and how it has worked with our kids with dyslexia, read this post.

Challenge A and Dyslexia

This year, we will be branching out into the middle school Challenge program, specifically Challenge A, for 7th grade. Because we started Classical Conversations (CC) late, we opted to have our dyslexic daughter stay back from Challenge A last year in 7th grade, complete another year (her 2nd) of Foundations and Essentials, and begin Challenge A in her 8th grade year. (Lots of kids do this by the way.)

We chose to do this because we wanted to give her the advantage of another year of writing, grammar and memory work. Before even beginning Challenge, we are seeing the fruit of this choice as she has been previewing her Latin homework and already has memorized the noun declensions. This previous knowledge will make learning the next layer of Latin information that much easier.

This is one example of why I like the CC program so much. The information is layered with the end goal in mind. Everything builds on itself as you continue through the later years of the program.

Accommodations and Modifications for the Dyslexic Challenge A Student

Our CC path is strewn with other families homeschooling their own dyslexic kids. In fact, there will be three students with dyslexia in our daughter’s Challenge A class this year! Last week I spoke with a few moms with dyslexic kids who have been through the Challenge A (and B, I, II and now III) program with success. They shared with me how they handled the accommodations and modifications for their kids. I searched the Internet high and low several years ago for this kind of information to no avail. That is why I’m so happy to share this with you today.

LATIN

Latin is probably one of the most intimidating subjects in the CC curriculum. It is important to note that Challenge A students will move slowly through the Latin texts (Henle First Year & Grammar), only completing about a third of the text this year. In Challenge B, they will start at the beginning moving more quickly through the material and cover about two-thirds of the books. In Challenge I, the kids will start again at the beginning and work their way through the entire text. Key take away: mastery is not the objective in Challenge A. Exposure, practice and acquiring the discipline to study Latin daily can easily be your child’s main goals.

Latin accommodations and modifications

Both moms allowed some of the weekly work to be completed orally, depending on what else was going on that week.

While the program recommends that students create their own flashcards, one mom whose son had no Foundations and Essentials experience (and has a profound dyslexia) printed the flashcards from the Quizlet app.

Some days the kids are assigned 20+ sentences to translate. One way both moms scaled this back for their kids with dyslexia was to assign only odd or even problems or to have the child complete the translations orally.

Neither parent had their kids translate from English into Latin. Latin is primarily used for translating ancient text into English and so is a skill that is not nearly as valuable as translating from Latin to English.

Both moms also stressed the importance of drilling their flashcards daily.

COMPOSITION

The focus of Challenge A is to learn how to write a compelling persuasive essay using the Lost Tools of Writing (LTW) curriculum. Topics are chosen based on assigned literature.

LTW starts slow. Be sure to watch the online videos provided by LTW and remember that there are samples of each essay the kids will write in the back of the LTW Teacher Guide.

GEOGRAPHY

By the end of Challenge A, students will practice drawing the world by memory including states, territories, capitals, major waterways and mountain ranges. Not all kids are able to learn everything in Geography, dyslexic or not. It is important to note that every student will come away with a certain amount of knowledge – very likely more knowledge than the majority of the population – so don’t sweat it!

Geography accommodations and modifications

While tracing maps is discouraged by CC in general, both moms I interviewed allowed tracing at least for the first day to build muscle memory.

Consistency is a must. Practice drawing every day.

Use the free online Geography games at Sheppard Software to learn countries and capitals. Have your kids play the games 2 or 3 times each day.

Be sure to print up flashcards to learn the geography terms and review them daily.

SCIENCE

Science consists of students completing their own research on a topic relating to Natural Science and then Biology and presenting their research to the class with illustrations. Most dyslexic kids didn’t struggle with science in Challenge A. Know that your child will progress dramatically throughout the year. One student wrote only several sentences for their first science research presentation.

For more tips on how to teach writing to students with dyslexia, read this and this.

Science accommodations and modifications

Decrease the number of facts for the key word outline.

Decrease or do not assign the written report.

Allow your child to read their report for their presentation.

Reduce the number of terms to be researched.

Reduce items to be labeled on the anatomy drawings.

Label the blackline drawing of the anatomy system instead of drawing and labeling the system.

RHETORIC/ APOLOGETICS

Two general topics are discussed during Challenge A: thinking and speaking truthfully and a comparison of evolution vs. intelligent design. Students are assigned weekly reading, outlining, and summarizing of key ideas and arguments and will be asked to memorize a series of catechism-style questions and answers about science and Creation.

Rhetoric accommodations and modifications

Both moms I spoke with suggested reading It Couldn’t Just Happen (first semester) and The Fallacy Detective (second semester) out loud with your kids. I was super excited to hear this because I had planned on reading them aloud with all of our kids during our morning time.

Be sure to print up the catechism questions and answers on flash cards and review daily.

MATH

Math during class, also referred to as seminar, is a discussion of math topics and mental math exercises.

Classical Conversations recommends Saxon 8/7 and uses sample problems from that curriculum each week for discussion. It is okay to use a different math curriculum.

Practice math facts at home.

I’m sending my daughter with her multiplication chart and factor chart (a total Godsend). Not sure if she’ll need them or even be able to use them but they are an accommodation we make at home.

One parent I talked to had their son do no math during the school year to give him more time to focus on CC. He did his math all summer.

A more moderate accommodation would be to only do math three days a week instead of four.

GENERAL TIPS

There are a variety of suggestions for ways to scale assignments in the Challenge A Guide. Scaling is expected, at least some of the time.

Start with the goal of doing every assignment from each subject for a set time – maybe the first 8 weeks until the first break. This shows the student that they are indeed capable of doing the work. Then begin to scale back the required work to meet your child’s needs.

Front load your homework. By setting aside the first two days after seminar to get a lot of the weekly assignments finished, your student will be left with a sense of accomplishment and have an extra margin of time should something unexpected come up.

Be sure to talk with your child’s Challenge A tutor or director when you tailor assignments.

Whew! That was a big post.

How about you? How have you tailored or scaled back during the Challenge years with your dyslexic student?

After homeschooling kids with dyslexia for 20 years, I’ve tried just about every homeschool curriculum out there. At least it feels that way and a quick look at my bookshelves pretty much confirms it. Trying, tweaking and switching out homeschool curricula is just part of the homeschool experience whether your kids have dyslexia, as 7 of my 8 kids do, or not.

One thing I never considered for more than 5 minutes, however, was Classical Conversations. If you aren’t familiar with Classical Conversations (CC) it is a homeschooling approach based on the 3 phases of the classical education model; Grammar, Dialectic and Rhetorical.

When most people think of CC they think of children of superior IQ chanting long lists of Latin verbs and reciting elaborate passages from memory. Knowing the inherent working memory weaknesses that kids with dyslexia have, no sane parent of dyslexic child would dare to consider such a rigorous program, right?

Then a friend of mine, whose son is dyslexic, started a CC group in our town. I emailed her and asked her how her dyslexic son managed such a rigorous academic load, full of foreign language, grammar and {gasp!} memory work.

He was doing great and here’s why.

Classical Conversations is designed to teach according to the particular level of brain development at each age. In the elementary years, or the grammar phase, children learn the grammar or vocabulary of a wide variety of subjects because that is what their brains are naturally wired to do.

The Stages of Classical Education

Grammar Stage (roughly grades K-5): This stage is called the grammar stage because every subject has a grammar to it; that is, the basic building blocks of that subject.

In English, it is the parts of speech; in literature, memorized poetry.

In history, it is names, dates, battles, events.

In geography, capitals and countries.

In math, addition and multiplication tables.

The elementary years of a child’s development are unique in that it is the one time of life where memorization is both natural and fun. During the grammar stage of learning, the goal is to fill students’ minds with large amounts of information through tools such as songs and chanting. My kids with dyslexia love this very kinesthetic learning with the added bonus that this memorization lays a tremendous foundation for future learning.

Logic Stage (roughly grades 6-9): In the logic stage learning to the think the primary object. Students ages 11-13 are growing new neurons in the part of the brain that controls reasoning ability. As middle schoolers begin to want to question and argue (ahem), the Logic stage takes advantage of this development, and equips them to think and argue soundly by training them in formal logic, paragraph construction, thesis writing, the scientific method, and the criticism and analysis of texts. Students begin to apply logic by assessing the validity of arguments and learn to view information critically with a more discerning mind. This stage of learning takes advantage of a student’s need to know how and why in addition to what.

Rhetoric Stage (roughly grades 10-12): One of the most valuable tools in our modern world is not simply knowing information (massive amounts of information are available to us easily on the internet), but to be able to synthesize information and then communicate it in a compelling manner. A classical education focuses on equipping young people to communicate with others effectively. In addition, students study the Great Books of the Western tradition, as they learn from authors whose words and ideas have transformed cultures and history. Learning from these cultural giants, they themselves begin at a young age to develop their own voice.

Our Experience With Classical Conversations

Foundations and the Dyslexic Student

Our four youngest kids are in the Foundations and Essentials programs of CC. In a Classical Conversations Foundations class, students meet once a week in classes of no more than 8 kids. Parents stay with their kids during this time. The morning co-op is made up of five 30 minute sections. A trained ‘tutor’ introduces the week’s new memory work in Geography, History, Science, Math, Latin, English Grammar and a section of a timeline of world history. During each 2 1/2 hour meeting the tutor will also teach a lesson in Fine Arts and Science and kids will do a 3 minute presentation on a particular subject.

Because all of this new memory work is learned to songs and chants often with hand motions, my kids with dyslexia are easily able to remember. Are they the quickest kids in the class? Not always. We practice each week’s memory work for about 10-20 minutes a day. That is all it takes!

Since starting CC 2 years ago, I have noticed a huge growth in my kids vocabulary and ability to talk and understand a wide variety of subjects from History, Geography and Science.

Essentials and the Dyslexic Student

Essentials is an English grammar and writing program for kids in 4-6th grades that meets in the afternoons for 2 hours after Foundations. Essentials is a complete language arts course but there is surprisingly little writing that goes on in class. Students compose sentences and learn the rules of writing by talking about them (called the dialectic model). Parents learn about English grammar and writing, too, because they sit in class with their kids. They watch the parent tutor (teacher) model the lesson and then teach as much or as little as they want their kids to learn from the lesson at home.

Writing and Grammar
My initial reaction to Essentials was to be completely overwhelmed. There is a lot of detailed grammar information presented in the first weeks that was completely over my head even as a college graduate with 6 total years of foreign language study! However, we stuck with it and as time has progressed our tutor (teacher) has been systematically laying a foundation of grammar knowledge and usage that is making more and more sense. The dialectic model of discussion takes the pressure off of kids. They can participate if they want to and I have found that my kids both are inspired and encouraged by the dialogue and are eager to participate.

Math Drill
Grammar instruction lasts for 45 minutes followed by 30 minutes of math practice. During the math drill, kids practice mental math computations by playing games with numbers. Using dice, whiteboards, cards, and fun games, the games drill students in multiplication tables and other operations in order to gain speed and improve accuracy in math computation. As a dyslexic student this looks like a recipe for disaster, doesn’t it?

Dyslexics are known for having difficulty memorizing rote information such as math facts. The use of mental math games forces them to rely on and push their infamously weak working memory. Yet my two daughters in Essentials (one dyslexic and one not) enjoy the game format and competing against their classmates. Proponents of using exercises to improve working memory know that it is a matter of using it or losing it. I see the math drill section of Essentials as a much needed exercise in improving working memory as well as math facts – two areas of great need for most dyslexics.

Writing
Using the writing curriculum from the Institute for Excellence in Writing, kids are taught to write paragraphs and essays, and practice using stylistic techniques in a fun environment. Students write papers about History topics they are covering in the Foundations program, so the learning is connected, which I love. Tutors model a few writing techniques in class, allow students to practice the techniques, and then suggest a writing assignment to complete at home.

A typical writing class looks something like this:

The tutor demonstrates a writing technique such as using metaphors.

She gives several examples of metaphors, then goes around the room and asks each student to make up his or her own metaphor.

She may also model the structure of a good paragraph and ask students to compose sentences together to construct a paragraph that she writes on the board as they go.

Students are asked to write a paragraph at home the following week using that structure and a metaphor for further practice.

This interactive setting has been tremendously helpful for our kids. Kids with dyslexia have great, creative minds that get bogged down when required to read and write. The dialectic method of discussing information being learned relieves this burden and frees our dyslexic kids to really focus on learning.